Jim Harbaugh was in a highly complimentary mood today. And why not? The 49ers had walloped the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night 20-3, and Harbaugh wants his players and coaches to get recognition for their season-long efforts. Where to begin with the praise? These are the 49ers, after all, so let’s get right to the quarterback.

* * *

Asked if he envisions Alex Smith as the 49ers’ long-term quarterback, Harbaugh replied: “I do.” And had he said otherwise, we really would have had a story to write. But Harbaugh explained his attraction to Smith in this term: He is judged by his win total, not passing yards or touchdown passes.

Because of that, Harbaugh lumped Smith in with Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and New Orleans’ Drew Brees as the NFC’s top three quarterbacks, and Harbaugh reitterated his stance that Smith should go to the Pro Bowl. A quick bio on Alex Smith: No. 1 overall draft pick in 2005, signed a third contract to stay with the 49ers this season (one year, $4.9 milliion) and revived his career upon Harbaugh’s arrival.

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Harbaugh trumpeted Smith’s “uncanny” ability to not give up sack/fumbles, such as the one Ben Roethlisberger did Monday night that led to the 49ers’ final touchdown. Smith has lost only two fumbles all season (the last being at Detroit on Oct. 16) and five interceptions.

“He’s been outstanding in that regard,” Harbaugh said.

In terms of Pro Bowl voting, Smith surely will need strong support from players and coaches, who vote over the next two days. Fan balloting closed after last night’s game. Harbaugh believes that astute folks won’t be fooled by Smith’s pedestrian numbers of 2,752 passing yards and 16 passing touchdowns.

“That’s the low-hanging fruit, going to the yardage line and passing-touchdown line,” Harbaugh said. “People who understand football know a lot more goes into being a quarterback than those statistics.”

* * *

How is this for signling out an individual by Harbaugh: “Justin Smith is our most valuable player. He did a lot of great things in that football game. He kicked ass. Basically that’s what he’s done.” Aside from Justin Smith’s ever-present hustle, Harbaugh made sure people understood that Smith is eating up blockers and that has allowed Aldon Smith to rack up a team-high 13 sacks.

Harbaugh said it three times in today’s media session, that Justin Smith is their MVP, and Patrick Willis agreed earlier in the day when he endorsed Smith as a league defensive player of the year candidate. “Justin Smith, play after play, he’s kicking ass, for a lack of a better term,” Harbaugh said.

* * *

Harbaugh joined the chorus in signing the praises of Aldon Smith. He reflected on how much they liked him coming into the draft. He didn’t like hearing that Smith made a sack Monday night with his mouthpiece in his sock, a story relayed by Willis. “I’ll keep a sharper eye on that to make sure Aldon keeps his mouthpiece in his mouth,” Harbaugh said.

* * *

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The 49ers offensive line and their coaches, Mike Solari and Tim Drevno, got some love for not allowing a sack. The 49ers had yielded 18 sacks in their previous three games.

* * *

There was no update regarding Ted Ginn’s ankle injury, suffered on a return of the second-half kickoff. Asked if it is a long-term problem, Harbaugh said: “Don’t know. We’ll see.” Harbaugh expects Braylon Edwards to “be ready to go” Saturday at Seattle. Edwards was inactive against the Steelers, and although Harbaugh expressed a desire to suit up four other wide receivers (Michael Crabtree, Kyle Williams, Brett Swain and Ginn), it’s not as if Harbaugh would outright say he wanted Edwards to rest his injuries if that were the case.

* * *

Seahawks leading receiver Doug Baldwin was on a media conference call before Harbaugh’s press conference. Asked why he didn’t follow Harbaugh from Stanford to the 49ers, Baldwin initially said he had no idea. Pressed further, Baldwin said the 49ers “already had a pretty stocked roster at wide receiver.” He said the Seahawks were the first team to call him after the lockout, although he noted that Harbaugh called during the draft to tell him the 49ers wouldn’t be selecting him and instead hoped to sign him as an undrafted free agent.

“I felt Seattle was the best opportunity for me to come in and get a job,” Baldwin said. “My agent talked (to the 49ers) a little and they offered somethign. But Seattle felt like a better situation.”

Harbaugh said of Baldwin: “He’s done a great job. I’m really proud of Dough. We talked to Doug about coming here. He’s done a phenomenal job. We should have drafted him.”

Cam Inman

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mglt6710: What does what “claude balls” post have anything to do with the players you mention??? The point being made was Nate Davis had success against scrubs…not top line NFL talent, so it’s not like he was some “diamond in the rough” that the 49ers missed on. In fact, Nate isn’t sniffing the field for any other NFL team either, so is every NFL talent scout wrong (including Harbaugh and Balky) and the Nate-lovers are right??

Fact….Nate has a learning disability. Although he gets tremendous credit for even making an NFL team, he is not starter quality. Time and time again it is stated that Jim Harbaugh requires intelligent players; especially at QB. There’s no way Nate…even if he had incriminating photos to get a try out…would be able to handle the 49ers offense at this juncture.

People can start taking down their Nate Davis shrines now…

Keep’n It Real

sledpunch – I agree with you on Kellen Moore. He reminds me a bit of Drew Brees…when he was coming out of college and people questioned his size, etc.

16 8 80

To all MORONIC Smith haters:

Stop bringing up the past 6 seasons, unless you are stating that Smith had good coaching early in his career, because ALL OF THE PLAYERS YOU LISTED HAD GOOD TO GREAT COACHING EARLY IN THEIR CAREER. This is his first year of good coaching and he is playing 100x better than at any point in his career.

Nothing is ever good enough (unless it’s a backup), his QB rating is top 10, along with comp %, ints and TD to int ratio, yet it’s not good enough.

Oh, and stop with the “he’s horrible in the RDZ” if your going to blame him then YIU have to blame the whole team, here’s why:

Smith has the same TD % in the RDZ on pass plays as the RBs do on run plays and one could argue has played better down there since most of the passes come from beyond the 10 and rushes generally inside the 10.

Point is these stats are not the best but the whole team has performed poorly not just Smith.

Go Smith, Go 49ers

claude balls

@mglt6710

Not sure what Joe Montana and Tom Brady have to do with Nate Davis’ performance against scrubs in exhibition games, but I am sure it makes sense to you.

As for Alex Smith (again, what does he have to do with this?), his success this year is compelling evidence that coaching matters. Montana and Brady both received excellent coaching and were allowed to learn and grow in single, QB friendly systems. Alex Smith? Not so much. Neither Nolan nor Singletary understands offense or the development of QBs. Nolan could not have mishandled Smith worse if he had tried to ruin him, and Singletary was functionally retarded when it came to offense. If you believe that six years and millions of dollars were wasted on Alex Smith, blame Nolan and Singletary.

And don’t kid yourself, Smith wasn’t the reason the team was so bad. The math is pretty simple. The 49ers got rid of Singletary, but kept Smith and started winning. Seems pretty clear who was responsible for the losing.

mglt6710

@claude balls: Here is your quote: “The only people who wanted Nate Davis were silly fans who think a QB’s performance against third stringers and soon-to-be-cut scrubs in the 4th quarter of an exhibition games is predictive of future success. ” My comments were a response to your “third stringers” and “soon to be cut scrubs” comments. Meaning, there are some third stringers and soon to be scrubs that can play rings around first round picks, and have.

Let’s review facts: NEITHER Tom Brady NOR Joe Montana, both drafted very late in 6th and 3rd rounds, respectively (NOR Drew Brees at San Diego, for that matter) were starters, initially. Both were backups who were pressed into service when the need arose. As backups, neither got first team “coaching.” Once they became starters, both being backups, they received great coaching from Walsh and Belichik. Absolutely coaching counts, agree with you there. Smith is successful ONLY because a) he does exactly what Coach Harbaugh tells him to do, no more and no less; b) is unbelievably blessed to have a shut down defense that in fairly recent games has handed him field position, only to have Smith either misfire or throw it away; and c) an UNBELIEVABLE kicker in David “Green” Akers, who covers the points that, as Smith says, “are left out in the field.” What other player has had such a phenomenal lack of success with a team for six whole years and has been retained by said team? Hmmm. Let me see. Counting Smith, ONE.

Using your “Singletary” logic, because Coach Harbaugh is an offensive – minded coach, then Coach Harbaugh’s defense should suck, right? Hmmm. Let’s see. Nope, that one isn’t true either — in spades!

All of this is opinion, of course. But IMHO, fans like you can keep making excuses for Smith ’til the cows come home, and all you get at the end of the day, is a guy who is mediocre, at best. John Madden said it best: winning is a great deodorant, and but for the Niner shutdown D and Akers, Smith would not be faring anywhere near as well left to his own devices.

Also IMHO, Smith was absolutely a reason why the team stunk. His limited skillset made him give up interceptions and fumbles, and did not allow him to make plays, to provide the leadership. Is John Fox a genius as a coach? Wonder how you would explain somebody like Tebow, who makes lemonade out of lemons? OR Cam Newton, who in his first year, is developing like crazy?

And by the way, nobody is talking about “Hating” Smith. Those that say stuff like that are both immature and idiotic. What’s next, Nyah, nyah? C’mon, Smith is obviously a nice young man, and is a real smart, too, academically. Some of us just don’t happen to see him as at all gifted in the QB skillset department, and some of us believe that it takes somebody gifted to get us to the big one and to win it again.

16 8 80

Just to chime in, Tebow and Cam are having success because both Fox and Rivera recognized the unique skill sets that each QB posses, and geared their offense toward those skills, and both understand that the QB is the most important position, same with Walsh and Montana, Montana was drafted because his skill set fit the west coast system perfectly, and he was allowed to develop and mature is that system, same with Brady and the Pistol that they run in NE.

Behind every great QB is a good coach and a good system: MONTANA/WALSH BRADY/BELICHECK FARVE/HOLMGREN MARINO/SHULA ROGERS/MCCARTHARY

SMITH/HARBAUGH, yup get used to it

claude balls

@mglt6710:

There is so much wrong with your post that I fear I cannot address all your mistakes, but I’ll tackle the most glaring ones.

1. You completely miss the point regarding “third stringers” and “soon to be cut scrubs.” The point was not that Nate Davis was a third stringer or a soon-to-be-cut scrub (although he was a third stringer). The point was that it was silly to conclude that Nate Davis was a budding superstar merely because of his performance in the 4th quarter of an exhibition game against guys who were not going to be playing during the regular season.

2. I can’t speak for Brady because I didn’t follow New England, but Joe Montana was never a third stringer or a soon-to-be-cut scrub. He was drafted to be the team’s future starting QB. And you are insane if you believe that Montana did not receive direct hands-on coaching and instruction from Bill Walsh from the first day he arrived in camp.

3. Your misunderstanding of my “Singletary Logic” would be amusing if it wasn’t so sad. I did not say that the offense sucked under Singeltary merely because he was a defensive-minded coach. I said it sucked because Singletary was functionally retarded when it came to offense. He abhorred creativity and innovation and thought the team could successfully run a 1950s offense. After he got rid of Martz, Singletary scared off every OC candidate he interviewed with his “vision” for the offense. Every guy who had another option took it. Singletary had to bring Jimmy Raye (mediocre in his prime) out of retirement to get the offense he wanted.

By contrast, Harbaugh is not functionally retarded when it comes to defense. The guy seems to be astute in all things football. Moreover, even if Harbaugh was an idiot when it comes to defense, it wouldn’t matter because he is not a meddler. He has turned the defense over to a brilliant defensive mind and kept his hands off of it. I think the contrast between Harbaugh’s and Singletary’s respective treatment of the other side of the ball beautifully illustrates my point. How you missed it so badly confounds me.

4. You say Smith was responsible for the team’s lack of success. I say that not only were Nolan and Singletary responsible for the team’s lack of success, they were responsible for Smith’s lack of success and certainly for his lack of development. You can argue with me on that point all you want, but you cannot argue with this: The 49ers got rid of Singletary, kept Smith and, BOOM, started winning, and winning to the point that it is 11-3, has clinched the division, and is looking at the No. 2 seed in the NFC. That’s with Alex Smith. Let me know when Singletary ever achieves that level of success. Of course, someone would have to hire him as a head coach first, and I don’t think that ist happening for a long time.

Finally, I leave you with this thought. Perhaps you “don’t happen to see [Alex Smith] as at all gifted in the QB skillset department” because you don’t know much at all about quarterbacking. Jim Harbaugh does, however, and it seems pretty clear that he (1) thinks Alex Smith has the skills to win in the NFL and (2) is bringing Smith back as the starting QB for the team. You might as well get used to it and quit bitching.

And enjoy the team;s success, for God’s sake. After 8 years of absolute misery, the 49ers are heading to the playoffs, and the team’s arrow is pointing up, way up.

sledpunch

16 & 80,

you got the first part of your post spot on. Fox was forced to tailor both his offense and his ego, to get results. All coaches would be better off, if they tailored things to the skill-set of their QB’s. Most are stubborn and want to run their “system”.

Walsh had nothing to do with Montana, he didn’t draft him because he fit into his WC dream. In fact, Walsh was prepared to draft another, older guy (can’t remember his name). It was Razzano Sr. who knew Montana was simply lights out. But it took lots of selling and a coup to get the 49er staff to agree with him over Walsh (imagine the politics of doing something like so).

QB’s should be chosen simply based on natural skills and vision, which, is what Razzano believed should be the point for all players, regardless of size and/or perceived deficiencies. WC gets credit for having one of the smallest O-line’s in history because as compared to other teams, our O-line seemed to have guys not built like sumo wrestlers. Razzano stuck with his skill over size theory consistently on draft day, which, gave Walsh tools to get to Super Bowl.

Which gets back to unorthodox QB’s a la Tebow, Newton, Vick and my boy Nate. Many fans harp on Nate’s dyslexia as a deal breaker. Many coaches question these same things and look at foolish things like Wonderlic scores which, have nothing to do with football intelligence. Nate had all the tools that only show up in competition.

There isn’t one scenario in combines that can test the pressure of 4th quarter drama. Tebow excels in high-pressure, 4th quarter, no-huddle offenses where it’s all muscle memory and adrenaline feeding his intelligence. I believe Nate had all this and more.

I used to be a fan of Tim Rattay when he was here. He beat out Alex in every category and beat him out in camp for the starting job. What changed my mind about Rattay was high-pressure 4th quarter comebacks. Rattay absolutely melted when things got hot, that’s when I knew he was a mirage.

Smith/Harb won’t be the future I think. Harbaugh didn’t even have Tolzien on his radar, as most teams didn’t. Harbaugh saw him at combines on WR day. Tolzien was smart enough to take the opportunity to be the QB for all the top WR’s coming out of college. He tossed for a good part of day, getting in lots of reps with collegiate best. Harbaugh was impressed with this kid taking something like that so seriously, and obviously his great passes he was tossing consistently.

claude balls

Walsh had nothing to do with Montana, he didn’t draft him because he fit into his WC dream. In fact, Walsh was prepared to draft another, older guy (can’t remember his name). It was Razzano Sr. who knew Montana was simply lights out. But it took lots of selling and a coup to get the 49er staff to agree with him over Walsh

That’s a nice piece of fiction that Razzano authored right there. Of course, no one else remembers it that way. John Ralston claims he was the guy who had to talk Walsh into drafting Montana, again without any corroboration. Face it, everyone wants to be known as the one guy discovered Joe Montana.

16 8 80

I tend to believe the Sam Wyche story.

jsteez

Seriously, all this attacking/defending Smith. Can we just agree that he’s a good enough QB? Given the team’s construction, 9ers can and will win with a “game manager” who makes some plays but doesn’t make big mistakes. Our D is top notch and our special teams are amazing.

Weaknesses: Smith misses some throws either too high or too low (i.e. the sideline balls that end up out of bounds). He doesn’t have a cannon.

Strengths: Smith shows heart, hangs in the pocket to make plays, can run, and is hitting 2/3 of his passes. He’s come through in the clutch and made plays when he had to.

I’m fine with the 12th best QB (or 18th for the haters) if he’s making $5M/yr, because that allows us to invest in the rest of our team. If we had a top-5 QB, he’d cost $15M/yr, and that means you can say goodbye to at least 2 of our other top 8 guys. Frankly, I’m happy Smith made so much money when the rest of our team was horrible, because now he can take a little less and be part of a winning squad.

11-3. For the first time in a decade, I give a rat’s @$$ about football in december

mglt6710

@Jsteez: You show an amazing amount of common sense and reason.

You’re right, bottom line, doesn’t matter what any of us think, we aren’t calling the shots, and if Coach Harbaugh says Smith is the answer, for whatever reason, then Smith is the answer. Results talk: irrespective of reason, the record is 11 and 3. We are going into a really important game on Saturday, and we all need to rally.

Go Niners!! Lynch, your running record is about to hit a brick wall!

16 8 80

I would love to stop all this Defending/Bickering and enjoy this team and this season with all my extended niner family.

Enjoy the game and Merry Christmas

latopia

claude balls says on December 23rd, 2011 at 2:39 pm

That’s a nice piece of fiction that Razzano authored right there. Of course, no one else remembers it that way. John Ralston claims he was the guy who had to talk Walsh into drafting Montana, again without any corroboration. Face it, everyone wants to be known as the one guy discovered Joe Montana.

—

Yup.

There are several principals with first-hand knowledge of Walsh’s pre-draft and draft-day strategies who corroborate Walsh’s narrative. That narrative includes the following:

1) Walsh had Phil Simms highly rated but realized other teams were interested too (Simms went R1/#7 to NYG) – Source: “The genius: how Bill Walsh reinvented football and created an NFL dynasty” by David Harris; Random House, 2008 [ bit.ly/uCpPzp ]

2) Walsh thought Dils would be nothing more than an NFL backup — which Walsh OBVIOUSLY confirmed when Walsh selected Montana (R3/#82) even though Dils was still available (R4/#97 to MIN) – Source: “Squashing the Montana Draft Myth” by Glenn Dickey, San Francisco Chronicle, December 15, 1997 [ bit.ly/rRjlc2 ]

3) Walsh performed enough due diligence to know Montana would *not* be selected before the 5th – ibid. Harris, Inman, Dickey.

4) After watching Montana workout with RB James Owens in Manhattan Beach just days before the draft, Walsh told Wyche on the plane trip back he’d take Owens in the 2nd and Montana in the 3rd – ibid. Harris, Inman.

5) The irony is, Walsh *did* misjudge one pick in the ’79 draft — the primary target for the workout first attended by Wyche and later Walsh in Manhattan Beach, Owens himself, of whom Walsh predicted “greatness.” ibid. Harris.

Walsh’s thoughts on Razzano? “Bizarre”. As he later noted: “It was mind boggling that [Razzano] would try to say that he wanted Montana and I wanted Dils, so we took Montana? I mean, I was the general manager and head coach and [according to Razzano] I’m supposed to sit there and say ‘Oh, is that right?’ as if I’m going to allow some scout whom I really didn’t know to tell me how to draft? That was bizzare.” ibid. Inman

claude balls

@latopia:

Now, that’s a comment, with research and everything. I especially appreciate the cites to multiple sources. Well done.

@ jsteez and 16 8 80:

Thanks for the reminder that we all root for the same team. Merry Christmas and Happy Niners’ Victory.

latopia

claude balls on December 24th, 2011 at 8:47 am

—

Glad to help. I hate that particular libel and have answered it before, so it was pretty ez to cut and paste. FYI: The “bit.ly” refs are links to the actual source material. If I included the http:// with each link, the spam filter would hold the comment for “moderation”.

Another ugly win, but we scraped by. Alex leaves another TD out there, if Kaep was in, that gun of his would’ve nailed wide-open Vernon. Never seen a QB hold it so long, he’s got a constipated arm.

But Latopia, even though you quoted from a book, Razzano worked for 9ers and Walsh for roughly 15 years give or take some. I’m sure egos clashed, but you also respect people that are around that long. Case in point is Razzano Jr. also working and getting groomed by his dad in same system. Guess he was describing his initial reaction to a new guy, two new guys who ended up being the best in the business.

Lance Newberry

“if Kaep was in…

He would have thrown three INTs and they would have lost.

Like so many other QBs in the league would have.

5 INTs = 12 – 3

james

When rookie head coach Seifert got some advice from his wife, it wasn’t “go do some HOF coaching, George.” It was “don’t screw up!”

I’m sure it’s the same phrase Harbaugh repeats to Alex Smith every day, and at every game, after he hugs him, “don’t turn the ball over.”

Don’t throw into coverage. Throw the ball away from the defending DB.
Even at the expense of not connecting with the receiver.

We’ve got a top ranked defense, two pro-bowl kickers. Let them carry some of the load.
We’ll take the 3 points, instead of minus 7.

In time, the niners receivers will learn to run routes, and communicate with their QB.

And in time, Smith will learn how to read defense, how to check down. (and how to audible in less than 30 seconds.)

Some QBs’ greatness lie not just in their arm strength, but how they respond to coaching.